Independent Democrats propose 3-party leadership for New York Senate

State Sen. David Valesky attends the Independent Democratic Conference meeting in the Legislative Office Building in Albany in this photo from June 4, 2012. He serves with fellow Democratic Senators (from left) Jeffrey Klein, David Carlucci and Diane Savino as a third legislative conference of the state Senate. Each member has an equal say and an equal vote during their caucuses. Stephen D. Cannerelli / The Post-Standard, 2012

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — As a court takes over the long count in a still disputed New York Senate race, a fight for control of the chamber is under way which includes a strong pitch for an unprecedented bipartisan coalition under three leaders.

A state Supreme Court justice will begin his review Thursday of hundreds of disputed absentee ballots in the 46th Senate District that runs from Montgomery County to Ulster County. Republican George Amedore has about a 110-vote lead over Democrat Cecilia Tkaczyk, from more than 120,000 votes cast. Nearly 1,000 votes will be decided in court.

Most of the challenges are from Republicans to votes from Ulster County, which was a stronghold for Tkaczyk. But how many votes will be approved by the justice, and how many of those will survive any potential appeal, won’t be known for days or weeks. The other contested race is the 41st district in the Hudson Valley. It continues to be led by the Democrat, Terry Gipson, over incumbent Republican Sen. Stephen Saland.

If the current leads hold and the Republican Amedore and the Democrat Gipson, win their races, the Senate will have more Democrats — 32-31. But Republicans would have a working majority, thanks to a Queens Democrat, Sen.-elect Simcha Felder, who has said he will sit with the Republicans. That would provide Republicans with the 32nd vote needed to elect leaders and pass any measure.

Such seat changing has traditionally been tenuous in the highly partisan Senate. Felder, a freshman and former New York City councilman, would also potentially have great power over any issue in an otherwise split Senate. If Democrats win both of the still contested seats they will have a majority, on paper.

But the four breakaway members of the Independent Democratic Conference on Wednesday made it clear they wouldn’t rejoin the traditional Democratic conference.

Instead, IDC leader Jeffrey Klein, a Bronx-Westchester Democrat, on Wednesday proposed a three-leader system embedded in Senate rules. That would mean no clear majority, but require bipartisan agreement between the Republicans’ leader, the traditional Democratic conference’s leader, and the leader of the Independent Democratic Conference.

The four-member IDC would then be pivotal in any decision in the Senate, from choosing leaders to policy to negotiating a budget with Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, both Democrats.

“This is what needs to be done for anyone who is serious about a bipartisan agenda,” said Klein. “Under a coalition government there doesn’t have to be one person in charge.”

He noted the Republican majority blocked some Democrat-backed measures such as raising the minimum wage and public financing of campaigns, while the brief Democratic majority in 2008-2010 failed to enact nonpartisan redistricting or a tough ethics law.

In Albany, majorities have near absolute power over legislation as well as staff and other resources for lawmakers. That was the motivation behind a Republican coup with dissident Democrats shortly after Democrats won the majority in the 2008 elections, leading to the most chaotic and gridlocked two years in Senate history.

Sen. Michael Gianaris, who led the Democrats’ campaigns, had urged the IDC to return to the Democratic fold. “Any so-called coalition government would be nothing but a charade and would be a hoax perpetrated on the people of this state that voted for a Democratic Senate,” Gianaris said.

There was no immediate comment from Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos. The GOP platform has emphasized job creation programs, spending caps and the need to have a check on an otherwise all-Democrat controlled state government and avoiding the dysfunction of 2008 to 2010 under Democratic majority.

Cuomo on Wednesday sought to remain above the fray. “I’ve been here two years,” Cuomo said. “We can work with just about anybody.”